Incindiary - Burnin' it!

Hi all.

I’ve been doing this primal thing for about 10 days now, and things are going great so far. I was unsure if I should start a journal because I really don’t have much to journalize. I don’t have any dramatic weight to lose, nor do I have any pressing health issues. In fact, I don’t have any health issues. I know I’m fortunate in this regard, and I never, ever take it for granted. Believe me, I am grateful.

I decided to formally go Paleo/Primal because I need some structure to regulate my eating. I’ve known for a couple years now that grains and legumes jack with my digestive system, mainly by causing some very uncomfortable and unsightly bloat in my abdomen. Yet, they are just so damn convenient. Don’t feel like shopping or cooking dinner? Pizza delivery! Fuck yeah! And that pizza tastes great! Until the belly bulge forms, and then it just tastes like laziness and regret.

What have I been eating these past two weeks or so? Hell if I can remember. I know I made a shepherd’s pie with ground beef, ground lamb and a sweet potato topping. In fact, I’ve been making this dish for years (I was paleo before I knew it was cool!). I also know that I have not eaten any grains, sugar, or legumes. And I feel so much better already.

Because I’m more of a leap-first-then-look kind of person, I ordered a shit ton of coconut milk and coconut oil from Amazon at the very start without even knowing if I like coconut products. It just seemed like The Right Thing To Do. That led me straight to discovering The Wrong Thing To Do – eating a shit ton of coconut products before your body is used to them. Ummm…yeah….baby…steps.

So, I’m starting this journal more or less to keep track of what I’m eating, and to remind myself that time spent preparing healthy meals in the kitchen is absolutely worth it. What I’m not going to do is keep track of every ounce, gram, or whatever of every nutrient, macro or micro, I’m ingesting. That is WAY too much detail for this laid-back, self-admittely lazy gal. And I’m an accountant! I get enough of that detail shit at work. I’m just going to wing it, and pay attention to my body, and what it wants. Do I feel like a sweet potato? Fantatstic! Carbs! Do I feel more like a salad with some steak and bacon? Then that's what I'm eating.

To get things started, I’ll record what I ate for dinner last night – the Sweet and Spicy Grilled Kale with Ginger Steak from the MDA website, sans the Sweet and Spick Kale. I just made kale chips instead. The steak was fabulous! Juicy and flavorful with the just the right amount of crunchy bits on the outside. Hells, yeah! My husband even made the comment that while he could ”probably eat that whole damn steak in one sitting”, he really didn’t want to, because the portion he had (maybe 5oz) with the kale chips, and a small dollop of mashed sweet potatoes left him completely satiated. In fact, this is something we’ve both noticed – feeling full and satisfied on less food. So the Ginger Steak recipe is a keeper.

Let’s talk about the kale for a second. This is the second time I’ve made the crispy kale in the oven. The first time, it came out, the texture was perfect except I WAY over-salted it. It was one of the saltiest things I’ve even eaten, and I once ate a whole bowl of salt. (Identify that quote!). So, this time I cut way back on the salt, but the pieces came out much drier than last time. Like almost desiccated dry. I put them in a 350 degree for about 15 minutes. I can’t remember what temperature/time combo I used the first time around because I don’t pay attention to important shit like that (hence the need for this journal), but whatever it was, the chips were much better. At least now I know that 350 at 15 minutes does not produce kale chips to my liking. Live and learn.

Today’s foods have included a couple scrambled eggs with about a 1/3rd cup of chorizo and half an avocado. Holy shit, that was spicy sausage, and I like heat. Lunch was a few pieces of the leftover ginger steak, and about 1/3 cup of mashed sweet potato. And I am full! I still have the other half of the avocado to eat before it gets all brown and nastified. 3pm snack maybe?

My Current Challenge – Grazing
I’ve always been a snacker. A lot of that had to do with feeling hungry again within an hour or two of eating a large SAD meal; I was always hungry, sometimes ravenously so, within an hour or two. So, bags of nuts, crackers, and cubed cheese became a must have at my house and at work. Another reason for the constant grazing is just sheer laziness. Yes, I have raw meat I can cook, and veggies I can roast, but why bother when I can eat of spoonful of almond butter and some cheese? And because I never eat enough of the snacky stuff at one time, I’m snacking again the next hour, and then the next, etc. It doesn’t FEEL like I’m eating too much, but my pants FEEL tighter, so something is wrong.

This is what happened last night. We had some leftover meals ready to go in the fridge, but they just weren’t calling to me. So I grazed. A few morsels of spicy, ground chorizo, 2-3oz. of Swiss cheese, about ½ bunch of the baked kale chips I made the other night, and a handful of dark chocolate chips. That was my “dinner,” consumed over the course of about an hour. Oh. I also had two bourbon and sodas. I killed the bottle though, and I have no plans to replace it anytime soon. I’m to the point where I loathe my middle-aged muffin top more than I enjoy my bourbon fix. So, goodbye booze. You will be missed, believe me, but it’s time for you to go.

I also juiced last night. I bought a juicer back in December thinking I could do a 7-day or 10-day juice fast. My friend does juice fasts every couple of months and just raves about how awesome she feels. So, I tried it. Never made it longer then two days before I was craving bacon or cheese or guacamole or chicken skin; just about ANYTHING with fat in it. That’s not to say I don’t feel energized after drinking the veggie juice, because I generally do, but there is no way I can subsist on juice alone. My body would hate it. And then I would hate everyone around me, and life would just suck But, I do like drinking juices a couple times a week with a fat or protein chaser, usually bacon or a boiled egg.

Last night’s juice was comprised of kale, spinach, two small carrots, three celery stalks, a little bit of fennel bulb, some ginger and three pears for a total of 32 ounces. I know there is a lot of sugar in three pears, and I can definitely taste it in the juice, but they were perilously close to ending up in the compost bin and needed to be used. I also know it’s better to eat your fruit then to drink it, but it is constitutionally impossible for me to eat a pear. My mouth will have none of it. So, I drink them. I had 16-ounces of the juice today for breakfast with two pieces of bacon. Lunch will be the other 16-ounces with some scrambled egg and chorizo.

What’s for dinner tonight? Some ground beef and pork breakfast sausage hamburgers cooked under the broiler. Both meats come from locally raised pastured animals. For the last two years, I’ve been buying most of my pork from a local farmer who raises heritage-breed pigs on rotational pastures of clover and grass. It is phenomenal! And comparatively affordable. Buying it does take some forethought and planning, as I usually have to pre-order it on a website, and then pick it up at a later scheduled date, but I’ve learned to budget appropriately, and buy in quantity. It’s really not THAT hard. And, honestly, I enjoy my twice monthly meet-ups and cheerful chats with the local farmers WAY more than the fluorescent soullessness of the grocery store. I’m also trying spaghetti squash for the first time tonight, so that should be interesting.

One more thing: I’m trying a Cross Fit Ramp Up tomorrow. Yay! Or maybe not. Fitness is not my forte. But, I can no longer abide the perpetual descent of my ass towards my knees. Something. Must. Be. Done.